Oklahoma City Thunder: Here’s the deal with Kyle Singler
By Joshua Lea
The Oklahoma City Thunder are putting together a team capable of reaching the Western Conference Finals. However, one player seems to be misunderstood.
On February 19th, 2015, the Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler. While Kanter quickly became a fan favorite, Singler fell to the bottom of the rotation where he has remained for most of his Thunder career.
Kyle Singler has a reputation around the league as one of the worst players. He is often a feature in the ESPN Trade Machine. He also is the subject of some harsh criticism around the Oklahoma City area.
Singularly Confusing:
So, the questions regarding Kyle Singler are:
- Is Singler really that bad of a player?
- Could it be he’s the victim of circumstance?
- Is he not being utilized properly?
When you look at his career statistics, the first thing you’ll notice is he has never averaged more than nine points a game. However, he has never averaged more than five shots per game in his career. To put it simply, his numbers are decent based on his amount of shots combined with made shots. Averaging almost three points a game on less than three shots is about 50%. Which is approximately what his career percentage is.
Singler isn’t going to be the offensively sound player that Paul George is. That doesn’t make him a bad player. In fact, he is often used to spread the floor and play defense. His defensive plus/minus is negative -1.4, which isn’t terrible considering he plays an average of 12 minutes per game in 32 total games played.
Yes, Singler was an above average college player, which sometimes doesn’t translate to the NBA level. Just ask players like Jimmer Fredette, Adam Morrison, and even Christian Laettner. These players all dominated in college and failed to do much at the NBA level. Singler is a survivor of those caliber players.
Singler has an ACC tourney MVP award, a Final Four Championship, and is fourth on Duke’s All-Time scoring list with over 2,000 points. So, saying he sucks isn’t quite right. If anything, he is a player who has accomplished a lot in his basketball career.
Singler’s Role:
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While the future of Singler and the Thunder remain unclear, what he brings to the locker room is. Singler is a team guy, he puts the needs of the squad above his shoulders. I truly believe this is undervalued in basketball. Sometimes, you just need a guy who’s been in a Championship environment before. Singler has been there with Duke. He may never be able to average more than seven points a game. However he can provide the team with the presence of mind to help them toward a championship.
Each player brings something different to their team. This is true of all things, everyone in your life brings something different. Singler has a place on the Oklahoma City Thunder the same way that Steven Adams does. He’s a part of the organization and therefore has value.
Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti has a reason for keeping Singler here and a part of this team. We may not know why; however, Singler brings experience to the table. That much we should be mindful of.